Nicola Coughlan on 'Bridgerton', broken furniture, and what’s next for Lady Whistledown

During one of her final days shooting the third season of Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan burst into tears. Sure, the demands of leading two shows at once, whose production schedules overlapped over the course of three weeks in London, were beginning to take their toll. After spending the week playing Penelope Featherington, this season’s leading lady to Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton, in a reimagined Regency era, the Irish actress would step back into the present day on weekends to co-star as Maggie, the mercurial best friend of Lydia West’s Eddie, on the new Channel 4/Tubi dramedy Big Mood.

But in retrospect, Coughlan says, what she was really feeling was an overwhelming sense of gratitude. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten better at living in the moment and trying to take things in as they happen,” the 37-year-old tells Harper’s Bazaar in one of the final interviews of her whirlwind, months-long global press tour for Bridgerton and Big Mood. “I think my emotions were so high because I realised what a privileged position I was in, getting to lead (Bridgerton), getting to play this character, having Luke and the incredible creative team by my side. It was a real gift, and it was coming to an end.”

Like self-described wallflower Penelope, Coughlan has been adjusting to stepping into the limelight for the first time. In the latest eight-episode installment of Netflix’s hit romantic period drama, Penelope—who has overheard her longtime crush Colin say he “would never dream of courting” her—decides it is time for her to find a husband herself, if only to escape the clutches of her overbearing mother, Lady Portia (Polly Walker). But after Colin declares his feelings for her in a steamy carriage ride that set the internet ablaze last month, Penelope is forced to reckon with the one secret that could threaten to unravel their entire relationship: She is Lady Whistledown, the ton’s infamous pseudonymous gossip columnist.

With Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) already on her tail and the infamous Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) now threatening to reveal the truth, Penelope decides to reveal her double life at a lavish ball hosted by her sisters, Philippa (Harriet Cains) and Prudence (Bessie Carter), in the season finale. In front of the queen and the rest of the ton, Penelope delivers an impassioned speech that is as much an act of repentance as it is a promise that she will “aim (her) quill more responsibly” going forward.

“I love that she has that moment to take control of her power and also own all of the things she’s done and go, ‘I am Lady Whistledown. This (scandal sheet) means everything to me, and you all love to read it.’ It was such a beautiful moment for this shy girl to stand in front of everyone and be reckoned with,” says Coughlan, who was “really glad” that, in a departure from Julia Quinn’s romance novels, which the show is based on, Penelope is the one to reveal her secret identity. “And then for Colin to come up to her and be like, ‘That was bloody brilliant,’ it’s such a satisfying way of doing it. I think the way he’s so proud of her is beautiful; you can feel the pride he has in her.”

Below, Coughlan breaks down the biggest spoilers from the second half of the season, reveals her approach to playing the most intimate moments of Pen and Colin’s relationship (and the piece of furniture they broke in the process), and muses about what the next chapter of Bridgerton could look like.

So much of the second half of this season boils down to Penelope revealing her double life as Lady Whistledown and dealing with the inevitable fallout. How did you want to play out Penelope’s inner turmoil over her secret?

It was one of the things I was most excited about for this season, actually, because (showrunner) Jess Brownell talked Luke and I through the season, episode by episode, really early on, way before we started fittings or anything like that. When it got to that point where she said, “It’s a point in time in which this very successful woman has to answer to her fiancé at the time, who feels insecure and wants her to give (her life’s work) up,” I was like, “God, that is so relatable for so many women (who have) men who can’t support them or don’t champion them.” It’s been done a little bit on TV before, but I was so excited for Bridgerton to examine that—and also because Colin’s a good guy. He’s not a bad guy. Yes, there’s a part of him that is like, “I want you to stop because you’ve written things about my family,” but there’s a whole other part of him that’s like, “Well, I really want to be a writer, and you are this amazing writer, and now I feel insecure about my (writing).”

 

How is Colin able to forgive Penelope for what she has written about him and his family?

I think how he managed to forgive her was allowing himself to be vulnerable. He’s just laying it all out there with her and going, “It actually made me feel bad about myself, and it’s not about you. Actually, I’m really proud of you.” I think Penelope also reaches a point at the end of the season (where) she is finally able to be wholly honest. She’s never been able to do that before, and it liberates her completely. Luke and I always say we can just imagine their relationship completely flourishing (now), because they’re such good friends, they love each other so much, and at that point you’re like, “Oh, it’s all out on the table.”

In Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the source material for this season, the identity of Lady Whistledown is also uncovered. But does part of you wish your iteration of Penelope had kept her double life a secret for a little longer?

I don’t, actually. I loved that it was revealed (to viewers) in season one, because I think a lot of times when a show has this “Who is it?” secret-identity thing, it’s always unsatisfying at the end. It’s somewhat like a paradox of choice, and then when it is going to be just one person, people go, “Oh, that’s not who I wanted it to be,” so I felt like it was a genius move to reveal it in season one. And then in season two, you’ve got that dramatic irony—the audience are in on it. And then in season three, it’s not the end of an era, because we’re still going to be there, but I think for (Colin and Penelope’s) story, this is how it needed to be. I have no idea, actually, what the future holds for Pen, for Whistledown. Thankfully, I’ve not seen any of season four scripts, so I’m as clueless as anyone. (Laughs.)

Let’s talk about arguably the most highly anticipated scene of the second half of this season: the first time Colin and Penelope have sex. You’ve spoken in the past about how you didn’t want to play Penelope as a terrified virgin with no agency. Colin asks for Penelope’s consent multiple times, and she is very much in control of their first sexual encounters. How did you want to play out Penelope’s sexual awakening?

It wasn’t just one thing. She has this innocence about her, but she grew up in a time without pornography and she doesn’t know what sex is, so in my mind, she would never perform sex, if that makes sense. In the modern era, we are exposed to this stuff all the time, but she wouldn’t have been exposed to any of that. So I was like, “What she needs to be doing with Colin needs to be what feels good—and not what she’s thinking looks good.”

But I wanted moments where she is really into it and he’s undressing her, but then she’s suddenly embarrassed and she feels like she shouldn’t be naked. As he’s getting undressed, she’s never seen a naked man before, so she’s sort of baffled by it, but she knows she likes it. I really loved that in the script, all those beats were really clear. It should feel very real to the audience, that this is what their first time is like—it is awkward, funny, sexy, and intimate.

When she is having sex with Colin, she wants to be an active participant in it. She tells him to show her what to do, because she doesn’t want to just lay there; she knows that she wants this. And then in their final sex scene, she’s on top, and she’s the one that’s controlling it. I love that you see her confidence grow in real time; it showed me her mettle and how when she really connects to who she is, there’s such a power to her. 

You and Luke have sent the “Polin” fans into a frenzy with the reveal that you two broke a piece of furniture while shooting one of the sex scenes this season. What exactly did you break together?

You are the first journalist to get the answer out of me. (Smirks.) It was the chaise longue that we did the first sex scene on. We were on a wide shot, so the camera was quite high above us, quite far away. There’s no one “micro-directing,” so we were going through the whole scene, and we were right in the middle of “the act.” Because Luke and I have a very good working relationship, we can kind of communicate with one another without saying what we think, and we both knew that it was a really good take. I was like, “This one is sexy. This is going to be the one they use.” He was on top of me, obviously, and the next thing we heard was dun-dun (imitates the sound of falling furniture), and it just collapsed down.

Bless him—Luke was holding his arm to try and not land all his body weight on top of me. I straight away broke character. I was like, “Oh, my God, Luke, we’ve broken it! We’ve broken the leg!” I have a picture of it, which I’ll share in a couple of days, but we snapped that thing good. (Laughs.) I won’t lie: We were (proud) as if that happened (in real life). It was an antique as well, so I’m sure they were not best pleased with us, but whatcha going to do? They knew what we were going to use it for! (Laughs.) 

And then you two were able to shoot a scene that was much larger in scale, but still felt incredibly intimate. What do you remember from the process of shooting Colin and Penelope’s wedding?

I know it sounds silly, but in this show, (the weddings) feel real, in a way. It’s not like I felt like I was really getting married, but it did feel like a big occasion, and I was like, “I don’t want Luke to see me in my dress before I go down the aisle,” which was so silly, but I wanted to get his first reaction. (Laughs.) We had what we would call “a hen party,” which is a bachelorette (party), before (shooting the wedding). And in the morning, we had fake Buck’s fizz, which is like a mimosa, and we were cheers-ing. It was quite fun, but it was very emotional. We filmed season two during Covid. We were trying so hard to keep it a safe set, so everything felt very disconnected. Whereas this time, we were all back together. And then to have Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) returning and to have the Mondriches there, it felt like a real celebration. It was a beautiful couple of days.

What did you want to convey when Penelope was walking down the aisle?

When Penelope was walking down the aisle, I think it is so anathema to her to be the center of attention that she just doesn’t know what to do with it. And then she’s thinking, “Does he even want this? Does he want to marry me? He knows (about my double life) now.” But then that beautiful moment when he gives her the look, you realize they’ve got stuff to sort out, but he does want to marry her. So I love that there’s that light and shade, and it’s not just one thing or the other. It’s a mix, which often is how life is.

Although they may be loath to admit it, Penelope and her mother, Portia, are much more similar than they are alike, and they seem to arrive at a place where they are finally on the same page. And now, Penelope officially has a new mother: Colin’s mother, Lady Violet (Ruth Gemmell). How do you think watching both of these women conduct themselves impacted Penelope growing up and will continue to impact her in the future?

I love the dynamic that she has with Portia. Penelope’s becoming an adult, so (she reaches) a point in adulthood when you look at your parents and realize they’re just people trying to figure out the world as much as you are. I think understanding where Portia is coming from is very important for Penelope, because it was a hard world for women—the world is still a hard place for women—but (Portia) is doing her best with what she has. She had an unsupportive husband who gambled all their money away, and then had this cousin come in and mess everything up again. Yes, she’s not Violet Bridgerton. She’s not got that warmth and that closeness, but she loves her girls and would do anything for them.

We have a saying in Ireland—it’s very silly. We say, “You didn’t lick it off the stones.” It basically means, “It came from somewhere in your family.” A lot of the fierceness and quick wit of Whistledown comes from Portia, but (Penelope) would be loath to admit that to herself. She thinks she’s nothing like her family, but some of her greatest qualities are taken from Portia.

Penelope has always loved Violet since she was a little girl, so I am really excited for (Penelope and Colin) to have this kid next season and have these two grandmothers. I love the scenes with Portia and Lady Bridgerton—they’re just so funny. And seeing Portia on the back foot and a little more shy and insecure is so interesting, because she’s only the queen of her own domain, not every domain.

 

Now that Colin and Penelope have gotten their happily ever after, what new layers of their relationship are you most looking forward to exploring next season? Are there any dynamics within the extended Bridgerton family that you would like to develop further?

Luke and I really loved the scenes in which they were just a pair of goofs. Some of the scenes that I’ve loved since season one are when they’re on the side of the ballroom just gossiping with one another, because I feel like they both love gossip, so I’m excited for more of that and for them just to be happy idiots. Luke and I talk about it a lot, that we’re desperate to have the You, Me and Dupree situation with Claudia (Jessie, who plays Eloise), where (Colin and Penelope) are being like, “Eloise, what are you doing with your life? What’s going on?” And her coming to hang out at (their) house and then icing Colin out for a bit.

I would love more scenes with Benedict (Luke Thompson), and I would really love to do scenes with just the Bridgerton in-laws, so: Kate, John (Victor Alli), and Penelope together just being like, “Oh God, these Bridgertons are exhausting.” (Laughs.) I feel like that would be quite funny. But I’m just excited to go back and to support whoever’s next. They’ve not told us, so we’re waiting to hear (who will lead next season). I think what’s lovely about the show is that so many people feel seen by it, and whatever the next love story is, someone else will connect to it and feel like it’s there just for them.  

Feature Image: Netflix

This article originally appeared on Harpersbazaar.com, in June 2024. 

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